Getting There

By Car -- Grand Junction is located on I-70. U.S. 50 is the main artery from the south, connecting with Montrose and Durango.

By Plane -- On the north side of Grand Junction, Walker Field, 2828 Walker Field Dr. (tel. 970/244-9100; fax 970/241-9103), is less than a mile off I-70's Horizon Drive exit. More than 20 commercial flights connect Grand Junction with the West's major cities.

Airlines serving Walker Field include Allegiant Air (tel. 800/432-3810), America West Express/Mesa Airlines (tel. 800/235-9292 or 970/728-4868), The Delta Connection/SkyWest (tel. 800/453-9417), Frontier (tel. 800/432-1359), Great Lakes Aviation (tel. 800/554-5111), and United Express/SkyWest (tel. 800/241-6522).

By Train -- Amtrak (tel. 800/USA-RAIL or 970/241-2733) has a passenger station at 337 S. First St. The California Zephyr stops twice daily, once in each direction, on its main route from San Francisco and Salt Lake City to Denver and Chicago.

Visitor Information

Contact the Grand Junction Visitor & Convention Bureau, 740 Horizon Dr., Grand Junction, CO 81506 (tel. 800/962-2547 or 970/244-1480; fax 970/243-7393). There's a visitor center on Horizon Drive at I-70 exit 31 (open 8:30am-8pm in summer and 8:30am-5pm the rest of the year), and a Colorado Welcome Center at I-70 exit 19 (Fruita and Colorado National Monument), 12 miles west of Grand Junction, which is open daily from 8am to 5pm.

Getting Around

Main Street and named avenues run east-west, and numbered streets and roads run north-south. Downtown Grand Junction lies south of I-70 and north of the Colorado River, encompassing 1 block on each side of Main Street between First and Seventh streets. There is metered street parking (free 2-hr. parking on Main Street between First and Seventh sts.), plus several public parking lots. Scheduled for completion in 2007 is a new multistory parking garage, very convenient for those going downtown, at Fourth Street and Rood Avenue.

Car rentals are available in the airport area from Alamo (tel. 970/243-3097), Avis (tel. 970/244-9170), Budget (tel. 970/244-9155), Dollar (tel. 970/255-9400), Enterprise (tel. 970/242-8103), Hertz (tel. 970/243-0747), National (tel. 970/243-6626), and Thrifty (tel. 970/243-7556). Sunshine Taxi (tel. 970/245-8294) offers 24-hour service, and Grand Valley Transit (tel. 970/256-7433) operates buses in the Grand Junction area, including a shuttle service to and from Walker Field.

Fast Facts

There's a 24-hour emergency room at St. Mary's Hospital, Patterson Road and Seventh Street (tel. 970/244-2273). The main post office is at 241 N. Fourth St.; contact the U.S. Postal Service (tel. 800/275-8777) for hours and other information. For weather conditions, call tel. 970/243-0914; for road conditions, call tel. 877/315-7623.

Special Events

Cinco de Mayo, early May; Dinosaur Days, mid-June in Fruita; Art & Jazz Festival, mid-May; Junior College Baseball World Series, starting Memorial Day weekend; Mesa County Fair, late July; Peach Festival, mid-August in Palisade; Colorado Mountain Wine Fest, late September.